Documents physical workload 154 results

"Objectives Rates of disability pension are greatly increased among people with low education. This study examines the extent to which associations between education and disability pensions might be explained by differences in working conditions. Information on individuals at age 13 years was used to assess confounding of associations.Method Two nationally representative samples of men and women born in 1948 and 1953 in Sweden (22 889 participants in total) were linked to information from social insurance records on cause (musculoskeletal, psychiatric, and other) and date (from 1986–2008) of disability pension. Education data were obtained from administrative records. Occupation data were used for measurement of physical strain at work and job control. Data on paternal education, ambition to study, and intellectual performance were collected in school.Results Women were found to have higher rates of disability pension than men, regardless of diagnosis, whereas men had a steeper increase in disability pension by declining educational level. Adjustment of associations for paternal education, ambition to study, and intellectual performance at age 13 had a considerable attenuating effect, also when disability pension with a musculoskeletal diagnosis was the outcome. Despite this, high physical strain at work and low job control both contributed to explain the associations between low education and disability pensions in multivariable models.Conclusion Working conditions seem to partly explain the increased rate of disability pension among men and women with lower education even though this association does reflect considerable selection effects based on factors already present in late childhood."

"La nomenclature des familles professionnelles (Fap) rapproche le répertoire opérationnel des métiers et des emplois (Rome) utilisé par Pôle emploi, des professions et catégories socioprofessionnelles (PCS), utilisées par l'Insee dans ses enquêtes. Ce numéro de Synthèse Stat' décrit, au travers de fiches, les principales expositions professionnelles des salariés pour chaque Fap (ou regroupement de Fap) de la nomenclature en 87 postes. Pour chacune d'entre elles sont également fournis des éléments descriptifs de la Fap et du profil des salariés. Les expositions aux risques professionnels sont présentées par types de contraintes physiques, organisationnelles, d'expositions aux agents biologiques et aux nuisances chimiques. Les données présentées sont issues de l'enquête Surveillance médicale des expositions aux risques professionnels (Sumer) de 2010, enquête transversale qui permet de cartographier les expositions professionnelles des salariés, la durée de ces expositions et les protections collectives ou individuelles éventuelles mises à disposition."

"Objective Previous studies have indicated that shift work, long working hours, and prevalent workplace exposures such as lifting, standing, and physical workload increase the risk of miscarriage, but the evidence is conflicting. We conducted a systematic review of original research reports.Methods A search in Medline and EMBASE 1966–2012 identified 30 primary papers reporting the relative risk (RR) of miscarriage according to ?1 of 5 occupational activities of interest. Following an assessment of completeness of reporting, confounding, and bias, each risk estimate was characterized as more or less likely to be biased. Studies with equivalent measures of exposure were pooled to obtain a weighted common risk estimate. Sensitivity analyses excluded studies most likely to be biased. Results Working fixed nights was associated with a moderately increased risk of miscarriage (pooled RR 1.51 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.27–1.78, N=5), while working in 3-shift schedules, working for 40–52 hours weekly, lifting >100 kg/day, standing >6–8 hours/day and physical workload were associated with small risk increments, with the pooled RR ranging from 1.12 (3-shift schedule, N=7) to 1.36 (working hours, N=10). RR for working hours and standing became smaller when analyses were restricted to higher quality studies. Conclusions These largely reassuring findings do not provide a strong case for mandatory restrictions in relation to shift work, long working hours, occupational lifting, standing, and physical workload. Considering the limited evidence base, however, it may be prudent to advise women against work entailing high levels of these exposures and women with at-risk pregnancies should receive tailored individual counseling."

"Objective This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a prevention program on work ability, health, and sick leave targeted at construction worksites. Methods A total of 15 departments (N=297 workers) from 6 construction companies participated in this cluster randomized controlled trial and were randomly allocated to the intervention (8 departments; N=171 workers) or control (7 departments; N=122 workers) group. The intervention consisted of two individual training sessions with a physical therapist aimed at lowering the physical workload, a rest-break tool to improve the balance between work and recovery, and two empowerment training sessions to increase the worker's influence at the worksite. Data on work ability, physical and mental health status, and musculoskeletal symptoms were collected at baseline, and at 3, 6, and 12 months follow-up. Sick leave data were obtained from the companies. Results Overall, no differences in work ability [? 0.02, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) -0.34–0.37] or physical and mental health status (? -0.04, 95% CI -1.43–1.35, and ? 0.80 95% CI -0.51–2.11, respectively) were found between the intervention and control group. The intervention showed an overall decline in musculoskeletal symptoms (ranging from OR 0.68, 95% CI 0.34–1.33, to OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.47–1.57) and long-term sick leave (OR 0.44, 95% CI 0.13–1.26) among construction workers. Both reductions were not statistically significant. Conclusion The prevention program seemed to result in a beneficial but not statistically significant decline in the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms and long-term sick leave among construction workers, but showed no effects with regard to work ability, physical health, and mental health."

The incidence of upper-limb, neck-shoulder, and low-back disorders and their induction times were investigated among new workers in tasks with various physical workloads.New trailer assemblers (N=364) were followed prospectively for 45 months - the workers' health status via medical records and exposure to physical workload factors via job titles, walk-throughs, task descriptions, and some direct measurements. The incidence rate of first sick leave due to such disorders was calculated for different workload groups. The proportion of workers surviving without musculoskeletal disorders was estimated by the Kaplan-Maier product-limit estimator, and the effect of the exposure on the risk of incident disorders was estimated with the Cox proportional hazards model.The highest annual incidences were observed for strenuous tasks, the incidence rate for men being 16.8 per 100 person-years [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 8.0-30.9] for upper-limb disorders in strenuous tasks and 6.1 (95% CI 2.0-14.1) in nonstrenuous tasks and that for women being 32.0 (95% CI 11.7-69.7) and 9.9 (95% CI 0.2-54.9), respectively. The men's risk of contracting an upper-limb or neck-shoulder disorder in strenuous tasks was about threefold [hazard ratio (HR) 3.2 (95% CI 1.1-9.4) for upper-limb disorders and 2.7 (95% CI 0.9-8.1) for neck-shoulder disorders] that of nonstrenuous tasks, whereas workload seemed not to affect low-back disorders. The workers first sought medical advice for their disorders typically some months after employment began.Newly employed workers in hand-intensive tasks have a high risk of upper-limb and neck-shoulder disorders. An etiologic role for activities involving high force demands in upper-limb and neck-shoulder disorders is possible.

"Objective This study investigates changes in self-reported and expert-evaluated physical work loads between 1970 and 1993 in relation to calendar year, birth cohort, and gender in an urban and suburban population sample (232 men and 252 women) born between 1935 and 1952.Methods A self-administered questionnaire was answered in 1993 concerning different aspects of physical work loads between 1970 and 1993. With the use of a classification matrix, the objective physical work load on different body regions was also assessed.Results Between 1970 and 1993 the fraction of subjects in blue-collar occupations and the physical work loads decreased among the men, but they both increased among the women. Physical work loads were, in general, higher among the men than among the women at younger ages (below 30 years), but less so at higher ages. Expert evaluations of the musculoskeletal load showed a Pattern similar to that of self-reported work loads.Conclusion The gender difference in work load development with age may have implications for the development of musculoskeletal disorders."